


A Hard Day's Work

by Scriberat



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 15:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18781315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scriberat/pseuds/Scriberat
Summary: Koumei is dragged outside to exercise with Hakuei~ day 10!





	A Hard Day's Work

**Author's Note:**

> i kept wanting to do something with hakuei and i kept remembering some lil extra where she wanted to train on her day off.

Koumei was hiding in his room. Carvings and paintings of pigeons surrounded and comforted him, and intimidated most anyone who would enter. The only exceptions to their power were his older brother, Kouen, and...  
  
"Koumei-san!" someone shouted as they entered his room. He recognized the woman's voice, and her sprightly walk, and the sheer confidence she exuded. He squished further into his hidden corner, hoping that the general lack of an aura he had would help to hide him from her sight.  
  
"Koumei-san~ Kouen asked me to help you do some strength training today!" That just made him squish further, but it was no use. Like a bat detecting the tiniest flap of a moth, she latched onto his movement and appeared suddenly in his sight, and she was smiling.  
  
"I need to bathe, first," he said, pulling his scroll up in front of his face.  
  
"Nonsense! We're going to be getting sweaty and dirty, anyway. We can bathe after!" she said, grabbing his wrist. Koumei ragdolled.  
  
"I'd rather not," he said, trying to force his weight down so she couldn't lift him. Why did he think that that would work against her?  
  
Hakuei just hoisted him over her shoulder. "Come on, it'll be fun! Nice and easy," she said, walking out with him slung over her shoulders like a sack.  
  
"Miss Hakuei, when you say 'easy,' it hardly means that," Koumei complained. He didn't bother fighting her. It would just lead to her dragging him out anyway.  
  
"Oh, come on. A few laps around the grounds--" which would turn into twenty "--a couple of sit-ups--" a couple reps of a hundred "-- some stretches--" spine-breaking, all of them "--and then finish with a nice relaxing hand-to-hand match."  
  
Koumei was going to die. He wondered if he should tell a servant to get the burial shovels out, and to pass along a message to Chuu'un and his siblings that he loves them.  
  
Unfortunately, they made it to the training ground. Koumei sighed as he was put on the ground.  
  
"Time to run!" Hakuei said, jogging around the grounds. Koumei followed dutifully. She wouldn't let up until he did. In total, she made it around a hundred times, and in that time, Koumei made it around fourteen. It wasn't too bad, all things considered.  
  
"You're doing great, Koumei-san!" Hakuei called as she finished her laps. "Now it's time for sit-ups!"  
  
Koumei had to admit: he admired Hakuei's ability to do exactly as she said. She said she would run and do sit-ups, she did. She said she would conquer the villages of the Tenzan Plateau without violence, and she even got a hundred faithful warriors out of it.  
  
If only he could do a sit-up. Even with Hakuei sitting on his feet and helping him out, he could barely make it to ten before collapsing and feeling sick.  
  
"I need a rest," he muttered, watching her complete a second rep of a hundred and wondering how the heck she managed it. Then she jumped up and pulled him to his feet.  
  
"Okay! Now we're going to stretch out our muscles so our cores don't hurt! Then we'll be all limbered up for a practice bout!"  
  
"Miss Hakuei, I barely know how to throw a punch. I'm no match for you," Koumei said, automatically following her with stretches. His legs felt like jelly, and his stomach hurt, and now his muscles were being pulled in a hundred different directions.  
  
Hakuei moved gracefully from one pose to the next. Koumei went as far as he could, cursing the day as he went.  
  
"Okay, we're all stretched out!" Hakuei said after an eternity. "Now it's time to fight!" She put her fists together excitedly, smiling gently all the while. Koumei looked around briefly for someone to get the burial shovels before Hakuei was dragging him to the middle of the ground.  
  
"Put your fists up," she said. Koumei did so. Hakuei circled him and corrected his stance, then nodded and got into her own.  
  
"Alright, come at me with a couple punches. I'll block them." Koumei nodded and threw a punch. She dodged it. He threw another. She blocked it. Throw and dodge, throw and block, throw and dodge, throw and block and grab and strike the sternum.  
  
Koumei flew backwards from the force of her strike, stopping as she pulled him back up.  
  
"You left yourself open. Here, I'll slow down the strike so you can block it. Okay?"  
  
"...Okay," Koumei said, getting back into stance and throwing a punch. Hakuei blocked it and grabbed his wrist, then slowly struck at his sternum. Koumei blocked it with his forearm.   
  
"There you go! You did it!" Hakuei said. She was excited at his progress. Koumei disengaged and scratched the back of his head.  
  
"Thank you, Miss Hakuei. You're a good teacher," he said.  
  
"It takes a good student to catch on to what the teacher says," Hakuei said back. She got back into stance, and Koumei followed. They practiced for awhile longer, then Hakuei called for a stop.  
  
"Bathtime!" Hakuei said. She found a servant nearby and got them to get it ready.  
  
"We really don't need to bathe together," Koumei said, putting his hands up.   
  
"We're family, Koumei-san. We should enjoy the time we have together," Hakuei replied, grabbing him and dragging him along. "Besides, it's been so long since I've been home, and Hakuryuu wants to train all day long."  
  
Koumei sighed as he was brought along through the halls. Hakuei busted the door to the baths open and stripped him down, dumping him into the tub.  
  
At least when Ani-o does this, he does it with a grimace, Koumei thought. He surfaced and sulked, then dropped beneath the surface as Hakuei dropped her own robes and climbed in.  
  
"Miss Hakuei, we shouldn't be bathing together like this. We're far too old for this, it's embarrassiNG!" Koumei shrieked at the end as she scrubbed him roughly.  
  
"Nonsense, nonsense," she said, continuing to wash him off. Koumei took another cloth and got it soaped up, scrubbing her at the same time before he finally switched their cloths.  
  
"I can wash myself," he said, doing so hurriedly. His skin was red where she had gone after the dirt.  
  
"If you aren't rough, you won't get the sweat off properly," she said. Koumei nodded and scrubbed a little harder --- not as hard as she had, but still pretty hard.  
  
They dunked their heads beneath the water together, then rinsed the dirt out with shampoo. Upon seeing Kouha's special shampoo, Koumei shrugged and handed it to Hakuei.  
  
"Thank you," she said.  
  
"It's nothing," he said, smiling.  
  
"Ah! That's the first smile I've seen from you all day!"  
  
"Is it?"  
  
"It is! You look really nice when you're smiling," she said, nodding.  
  
"Thank you," Koumei said. "You do, too."  
  
Hakuei smiled broadly and finished washing herself, then left the bath. Koumei followed suit, getting dried by a retinue of servants. Hakuei chuckled, drying and dressing herself.  
  
"My work here is done. I'll go and tell Kouen," Hakuei said, departing.  
  
"Right. Enjoy your day," Koumei said. Once he was dressed, he retreated to his corner, hiding in it once again, knowing he would soon be sought out by the only other person who wasn't pidgintimidated.  
  
"Koumei!" shouted a voice as it busted into his rooms. It was deeper and masculine. Koumei sighed as his brother swung into view.  
  
"You didn't invite me?"  
  
"No, because with Hakuei, there's only the possibility of needing a grave. With you, it's a certainty. Join me here?" Koumei asked, hoping his brother would take him up on the offer.  
  
"... Scoot over." The two of them curled up under the blankets together, reading from the book Koumei had grabbed from the library. It felt nice to him, this time he spent with Kouen. He snuggled into his brother's side as Kouen looped an arm over his shoulders.  
  
It was peaceful, and all he wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> so cuuuuuute


End file.
